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Remembering Valerie Wakeley

This wonderful story was shared with us by Lauren on behalf of her boyfriend, who’s mother Valerie Wakeley passed away in 2011 from breast cancer.

Valerie had previously battled breast cancer and was in remission, but the cancer came back aggressively. She kept this secret from her two sons because she didn’t want them to worry.

Even though she was sick, Valerie made a surprise trip from her home in Sandpoint to visit her son, Sean, in Boise. He was going through a tough time and she wanted to lift his spirits on Thanksgiving — just two months before she passed away.

Her son Jesse said, “[She] never really told me that she was on her way to transition to whatever is next after this existence. Perhaps it was to protect me from the anguish of knowing that my mother would soon leave this plane, but I like to think that she was forever holding out that she would bounce back from her situation. This eternal optimism was one of the greatest gifts she gave me, as well as I’m sure many other people she met, and is something that I hope ripples on to whoever else we meet in our lives. And it would seem that in this way, one really can live on forever.”

Friends and family knew her as an amazing and inspiring woman with beautiful energy that could brighten anyone’s day – exemplary characteristics shared in the several stories on her remembrance site.

Although Lauren never knew Valerie, she says:

“[Sean] and I were just friends then and I never got to meet her but I know she was an incredible woman… [She passed away on] my birthday, actually. Together we celebrate her life on that day too.”

Thanks for sharing with us Lauren. Her memory lives on with us forever here.